Posted by
Andrews on Saturday, April 05, 2008 10:38:53 PM
I think there is one reform of the primary system that may come out of this primary season. It is a necessary change, and one members of both parties have complained about. That is the open primary.
In essay after essay* I have argued that it is incumbent on Republicans to support whoever the party nominates, that we should not send messages by refusing to vote in the general election, and we should restrict our infighting to the primaries. However, that entire argument only makes sense if primaries are limited to party members.
Why is that? Allow me to explain.
If primaries are open only to registered party members, then whoever carries the primary is the best approximation of what the party desires in a candidate. You still may not like the results, but at least you know you are out of step with the majority of the party and that you need to persuade the party to change before the next election.
But the whole thing falls apart when we have open primaries. If McCain is nominated because Democrats supported him in specific states, then it is no longer clear that he represents the will of the party, not even an approximation thereof. He may, or he may not, but by opening up the primaries to non-Republicans we have introduced doubts in the minds of party members, and it is arguable that he not only does not represent this or that voter, but he may not represent the party as a whole. In short, he may have been foisted on us by the opposition.
Nor does this apply only to Republicans, Democrats as well are fearing Republican cross-overs, now that the Republican primaries are settled, which may serve to make their outcomes suspect as well.
Of course, even if we eliminate the open primary, there is always the possibility that saboteurs may register in the opposing party to sow dissent, but that is a much more remote possibility, and requires enough work that it is unlikely many will do so. Only the open primary, by making cross over voting so easy, serves to short circuit the purpose of the party primaries.
So, in order to allow parties to truly work out their beliefs in the primaries, and to ensure that the results can be trusted by the party members, we need to eliminate open primaries and restrict primary voting to party members**.
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* I won't bother providing links for all of them, as I have written extensively on this topic. My most recent article is "
Covering Old Ground Again", and it includes a comprehensive list of links to articles on McCain. No need to reproduce that here.
** Some argue that allowing independents to vote in primaries produces more "electable" candidates. The problems there are twofold. First, by allowing independents, we create a loophole which allows opposition voter in under the guise of independents. Second, likelihood of victory is secondary to selecting a candidate who represents the party. Independents are independents because they are not in agreement with either party, so their votes will only serve to dilute the party member votes and select a candidate who does not accurately represent the party.